kamoshika
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2008
- Messages
- 4,136
- Likes
- 18,572
Superb piece on a terrific young man...
Phillips possessed — and possesses — a different understanding of the world because of the world grew up in. The Tennessee basketball freshman was raised on and by Big Oak Ranch in Alabama, spending his youth surrounded by people different from him and many with hard backgrounds. The man he is was fostered on the 474-acre ranch, his empathy heightened and his basketball game created.
...There was never a conversation explaining what brought kids to the ranch. He leaned in evermore to the setting. Phillips took naturally to it all, befriending any and all — kids from abusive households and broken homes, state cases and abandoned kids. Phillips innately grasped that kids came to Big Oak often because not many – if any – people wanted them. But he did. He saw how his parents loved truly and emulated that care.
...He welcomed their hard and hurt. He saw people for who they were. They all came to Big Oak for different reasons but what mattered is they were there. “I don’t think he knew everybody’s story and I don’t think he cared,” said P.J. Wells, who grew up at Big Oak with Phillips and plays football at Jacksonville State. “He loves us and we love him.”
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/spor...sketball-big-oak-ranch-childhood/72205403007/
Phillips possessed — and possesses — a different understanding of the world because of the world grew up in. The Tennessee basketball freshman was raised on and by Big Oak Ranch in Alabama, spending his youth surrounded by people different from him and many with hard backgrounds. The man he is was fostered on the 474-acre ranch, his empathy heightened and his basketball game created.
...There was never a conversation explaining what brought kids to the ranch. He leaned in evermore to the setting. Phillips took naturally to it all, befriending any and all — kids from abusive households and broken homes, state cases and abandoned kids. Phillips innately grasped that kids came to Big Oak often because not many – if any – people wanted them. But he did. He saw how his parents loved truly and emulated that care.
...He welcomed their hard and hurt. He saw people for who they were. They all came to Big Oak for different reasons but what mattered is they were there. “I don’t think he knew everybody’s story and I don’t think he cared,” said P.J. Wells, who grew up at Big Oak with Phillips and plays football at Jacksonville State. “He loves us and we love him.”
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/spor...sketball-big-oak-ranch-childhood/72205403007/
